Extremely Dangerous - Production Notes
(2)

Last Update: 03 December 1999

(You need a browser capable of viewing
tables to see this page properly)

Modern Day Gangsters

Director Sallie Aprahamian discussing the
project's feel:

"It was a genre that I haven't worked
in before - I tend to work in rather deep psychological dramas
not involving too much action, and I thought that it would be
fun to exercise my muscles in this kind of direction. I like
psychological work because it's good meaty stuff for the actors,
but I was quite seduced by this particular script. It brings
together the working of someone's mind, someone who is in grief,
who's struggling with his own head, and mixes it with all the
action.

"It's the first time I've worked with
action on such a scale. Most dramas these days include a stunt
or two or a fight, but to actually do a genre where there is
some expectation from the audience that there will be lots of
fights and violence and chasing and big things, it's slightly
different from having 'a slightly violent moment in episode two'.

"The two sides are very different.
One is a different kind of skill and is based on technique and
technicality, the other which is what I really like doing, which
is working with actors, and finding moments of truth, and I think
this project stretched me in both directions really.

"Someone asked me whether I thought
that this was a real representation of organised crime in Britain
today, and my reply was I thought that it's very rooted in drama.
It has an insight into that world, but I think it's simplified
it, and introduced a humour into it that creates its own brand
of energy, which is very much Murray's style. That's what he
writes, that's where he comes from.

"I didn't want to do a sort of socio-drama,
you know the gritty reality of life on the streets of northern
Britain, but at the same time I don't think that it's in any
way glib about the violence of this world. I think our dramatic
tension exists because our hero has lived a sort of vicarious
lifestyle - he's lived like them, but he's now suffering within
himself because of the jeopardy he's placed his wife and child
in. It brings energetic, entertaining sides of this genre, with
quite a sense of sensitivity there."

"Nobody shouts in our production.
In a lot of television drama, you have people shouting at each
other at the slightest provocation, whether they're having an
argument as husband and wife or in business. We have a much more
controlled set of performances, all seething away under the surface.
And we are talking about a man who has murdered his own wife
and daughter. The stakes are very high but people don't lose
their cool. Annie is a prime example of this, she's very controlled.
She's panther like, ready to spring, to protect her family, whatever
happens, she'll protect her dad.

"Also, Murray has written in some
incredibly sympathethic lesser characters. These are key, because
in a drama with a man on the run, you expect to see the gangsters,
and you expect to see the policemen. I think that we've done
this in a very original way, also the only friends he has in
the world are the mini-cab operator and the woman who gives him
bed and breakfast. They respond to something in Neil Byrne instinctively,
something which makes them trust him.

"When you read Murray's thrillers,
you know what a wonderful writer he is, the way he devises plot
and character. One thing that stands out always is Murray's wit
and there's always some charm. We want to be entertained and
excited, but we don't need to be only on the edge of our seats
throughout. A show like Extremely Dangerous depends on
how good the action is - and we have here a very tough piece
of action!"